With audiences returning to theaters properly and box office returns climbing out of the trough of COVID, it was only natural that studio bosses were going to be bullish at this year’s CinemaCon event in Las Vegas.
First out of the gate this time was Sony, whose chairman Tom Rothman was in an upbeat, triumphant mood. “For the past three years, as the punditocracy pissed on your business, we at Sony held fast,” Rothman boasted. “We are the only studio that held entirely to theatrical. We were sure that movies in theaters would not only survive but triumph. Well, whaddaya know?”
Sony remains on the theatrical train, with several big releases planned.
NytTxMylSyqD6ghRVWIFk6‘The Equalizer 3’
Among the biggest is ‘The Equalizer 3’, which represents that unusual franchise where the star –– in this case, Denzel Washington –– is actually bigger than the property. In an age of superheroes and ‘Star Wars’ selling seats, he’s an outlier.
The studio had Washington and co-star Dakota Fanning on stage to thank cinema executives for their support and, perhaps more crucially, to highlight the fact that it represents a reunion for the ‘Man on Fire’ stars. And a trailer played, which went online today…
JaS2JEvT‘The Equalizer 3’ catches up with Washington’s government assassin-turned-kick-ass-do-gooder Robert McCall in Italy, where he’s trying to enjoy some downtime on the picturesque Amalfi coast and not be asked to take on villains.
Sadly, for McCall, that’s not the way his life goes, and he’s soon caught up helping some locals with Mafia goons and violence. Which means McCall has to break out his particular set of skills and lay the smack down on members of the criminal clan known as the Camorra (think an even more dangerous offshoot of the Mafia).
And while there are some very wild, violent thugs looking to tackle McCall, none of them are quite ready for what he brings to the table. Literally in one case, as we witness him applying nerve pressure to one of the enforcers. “That’s level three”, he tells the anguished henchman. “If “If it goes to level four, you will shit on yourself.” Thanks Denz!
But the highlight, as mentioned above, is in the reunion between Washington and Fanning. The latter was just 10 when she shared the screen with Washington ‘Man on Fire’ in 2004. Now, for ‘The Equalizer 3’, she’s playing a young CIA agent drawn to the village because of all the reports of violence.
And the two actors’ connection was clear, since they have stayed friends all these years. “She’s like a daughter to him, he loves her,” Antoine Fuqua told Empire of the off-screen dynamic between Washington and Fanning. “It was so beautiful to watch them together on the set, just talking, laughing. And they’re both so talented, they just get into it, they didn’t skip a beat. What was weird for me looking through the lens and seeing Dakota as a grown-up! She’s fantastic and watching them together was a joy because she’s a samurai. She knows it, she’s there, she’s pleasant, she does her thing. And it was a bonus her relationship with Denzel. She’s friends with his kids. It was very easy with those two.”
‘The Equalizer 3’ will be in theaters on September 1st.
‘Bad Boys 4’
While ‘Bad Boys for Life’ represented one of the few hits as the pandemic began to bite, Sony was naturally excited to roll out word of the next movie. The movie is now filming (with ‘For Life’ directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah returning) but isn’t yet at a stage where the studio can show a trailer. Still, it had stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence ebullient in a video introduction.
SpntnNAElLYciWhOg8Mrp2‘Gran Turismo’
Related Article: Sony Wants Neill Blomkamp to Direct a ‘Gran Turismo’ Movie
‘Gran Turismo’, adapted from the Sony racing game is much further along, though while the trailer played to the presentation audience, it has yet to head online.
The film will tell the story of Jann Mardenborough ( ‘Midsommar’s Archie Madekwe), a British teenager who in 2011 entered GT Academy, an esports tournament created to find ‘Gran Turismo’ players who were good enough at the game to be able to competitively drive real-life race cars. Mardenborough was victorious in the GT Academy competition and became a race car driver for Nissan, competing in the Dubai 24 Hour endurance race.
In the trailer, we see Jann arriving with other GT Academy contestants and being put through the wringer by racing trainer Jack Salter (David Harbour) who puts them through a rigorous boot camp to get them in shape. It’s one thing to know how to hit every corner on a world-class racetrack and to overtake in a simulation of a Nissan GT-R LM, but as Jann finds out, it’s hard to do it when the g-forces and hot temperatures of an actual race car are bearing down on you.
“If you miss a racing line in a game you can reset,” warns Jack. “If you miss it in a real race, you could die.”
‘Gran Turismo’ drives into theaters on August 11th.
I4uiCgfrVm9v0V1Pk8VlB5‘No Hard Feelings’
Jennifer Lawrence and ‘No Hard Feelings’ director Gene Stupnitsky swapped onstage banter before introducing a new clip from the raunchy comedy about two helicopter parents who hire a woman to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, so he doesn’t leave for college as a virgin. The comedy hits theaters on June 23.
‘Kraven The Hunter’
Also on display, Sony/Marvel Spider-adjacent superhero pic ‘Kraven The Hunter’, with star Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing the title character. He introduced the first look at the movie, enthusing that it’s Rated R.
In the footage, Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven is a tactical stalker with a penchant for cropped leather vests and five-star hair. He shreds his victims viscerally, often with primitive claw-shaped weapons. Blood pours freely over the screen and, at one intense moment, Taylor-Johnson rips the flesh off a target’s neck with his teeth and spits it out. Definitely an R-rating, then.
‘Kraven the Hunter’ will be in theaters on October 26.
IhJWggEGUlOpETHULj3r6‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’
But if Spider-movies are your thing, then ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ was surely the more exciting title.
Co-director Kemp Powers was joined by voice stars Shameik Moore (who plays Miles Morales), and Hailee Steinfeld (Gwen Stacey), and new recruit Issa Rae (Jessica Drew) to show off 14 impressive minutes of footage from the sequel, which be followed by another movie in 2024.
“It’s been over a year since the events of first movie and he’s still trying to learn to be a superhero,” Moore added, saying that this movie shows that “how you wear the mask is what makes you a hero.”
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ will swing into theaters on June 2nd this year, with ‘Beyond the Spider-Verse’ due next year.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Sequel
There was also a video from Jason Reitman and the team making the sequel to ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ (on which Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan have swapped jobs this time, Kenan directing while Reitman produces) confirming the story’s return to the New York haunts of the original 1984 ‘Ghostbusters’. The new film –– whatever its title –– hits theaters on December 20th.
iirXzcI0noMI9dnIGTRvj5‘Napoleon’
While ‘The Equalizer 3’ wrapped things up, there was also room for a big get by the Sony executives, who had scored the chance to release Ridley Scott’s Joaquin Phoenix-starring ‘Napoleon’ in partnership with Apple.
“I know that he can do things cinematically that filmmakers half his age, can’t do,” Rothman said of the 85-year-old director.
UbfouXgmnJOVru1pH1dUPThe clip shown had Joaquin Phoenix’s title character commanding the French army in a foggy, blurry wintery epic battle with the Russian and Austrian forces. Napoleon knows it’s coming; he has invited the attack. Lots of bayonets slicing and soldiers falling in the icy water.
‘Napoleon’ should be in theaters this Thanksgiving, followed by its arrival on Apple TV+ after that.
All in all, some big moves, and big movies from Sony.
Movies Presented at Sony Pictures 2023 CinemaCon Presentation:
- ‘The Equalizer 3‘ (2023)
- ‘Bad Boys 4‘
- ‘Gran Turismo‘ (2023)
- ‘No Hard Feelings‘ (2023)
- ‘Kraven the Hunter‘ (2023)
- ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘ (2023)
- ‘Untitled Ghostbusters: Afterlife Sequel‘ (2023)
- ‘Napoleon‘ (2023)
